


Healer

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18055505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: After everything, you wake up in a strange room with your girlfriend.





	Healer

The first thing that you are aware of is a sharp pain in your cheek. You gasp and your eyes fly open, consciousness quickly taking over. You are in a bed, you can feel that much, feel the cotton sheets beneath you. The room smells... odd. Herby, almost. As though you were in Avalon's or Elizabeth's cottage.

_Elizabeth_

The memory of what happened suddenly slices into you, and you feel hot tears spill over your cheeks. You let out a cry, pulling the covers over yourself as you try your best to curl into a ball. But then, you feel a hand on your shoulder, a gentle hand. It smells... not herbal. Almost like horses and sweet things. Immediately, you open your eyes, moving to face the owner of the hand.

"Hey, it's okay," says a soft, Texan-accented voice that you know so well. And yet, you can't believe Lisa's words. Not after what just happened.

"No it's not," you say, squeezing your eyes shut. Your voice has a whine in it, but you can't help it. Elizabeth is dead. Sure, Anne might be home now, and she might at least look okay, but that doesn't mean that things are remotely okay.

"Well, okay, maybe not," Lisa says. "But it's going to be okay. I'm here."

"I know," you say. And you are grateful for Lisa being here. Without her, you don't know what you'd do. She has been your rock through all of this, and at first, you were certain that she was simply repaying you for saving her life that night with the tree. It took months for her to convince you that, yes, she did really like you, and no, she wasn't just taking pity on you.

"How are you feeling? Physically, I mean," Lisa asks, her hand stroking over your hair.

"My cheek hurts," you say. Now that you are awake, you are aware of a pink glow suffusing the room, mostly coming from your right eye. Your heart threatens to stutter to a stop in your chest- did Pandoria hurt you as it had hurt Evergray? Surely not, you were only there for a few moments when the world was falling apart around you.

"Can you see?" Lisa asks. At your nod, she sags in relief.

"Oh, thank Aideen," Lisa says. "I was worried that I didn't get to it in time or heal it properly."

"What happened?" you ask. All you can remember is the explosion and then trying to comfort Alex while also trying to find your way out of Pandoria. There might be some pain there, too, but the last thing you can remember is Lisa taking you into her arms as the ground had rushed up to meet you.

"Alex tried to explain it," Lisa says. "As much as she could, anyway. She's a wreck."

"I can imagine why," you say. Because you hadn't known Elizabeth for as long as Alex, and even you are falling apart. "I remember the explosion, and then..." You close your eyes for a moment, opening them again as the memory comes back to you. "I followed your song out."

"Oh, so you got that," Lisa says, her sigh of relief almost a laugh. "I was worried that it wouldn't get through." You put your hand on Lisa's, the touch sending a jolt of warmth through you.

"It got through," you say, smiling at her. Lisa smiles back at you, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to your lips.

"So you remember the explosion and finding a way out?" Lisa asks. You nod.

"And then I collapsed in your arms and I'm guessing you brought me here," you say.

"Exactly," Lisa says, nodding. But her smile belies the seriousness in her eyes. "I was so worried about you. I thought I'd lost my girlfriend."

"No," you say, shaking your head. "Not yet. I'm still around."

"And thank Aideen for that," Lisa says.

"Oh, is your name Aideen now?" you ask. Lisa blushes as you gently cup her cheek in your hand. "You're the one who saved my life, Lisa. Yes, Aideen may have played a part in it, but... it's you. It's been you, this whole time."

"That's sweet of you to say," Lisa says.

"No," you say, pressing another kiss to her lips. "You need to take credit for this, Lisa. You guided me out of this place, Alex and I are still around because of you. And Elizabeth, of course. I don't know what would have happened if she hadn't been there." You blink away tears, but one falls anyway. Lisa brushes it away, her gaze going to the pain on your cheek.

"I'm sure it looks worse than it is," Lisa murmurs. "Does it hurt?"

"Only my cheek," you say. You touch it, wincing at how tender it is. Lisa bites her bottom lip, her hand quickly gripping your wrist. "I want to see it. How bad does it look?"

"Are you sure?" Lisa asks. You nod. Sure, it might be bad, but it can't be as bad as Elizabeth. Besides, Anne makes it look good. Very good. "Okay." Lisa sucks in a deep breath, letting it out as she picks up a handheld mirror. She holds the mirror, unwilling to give it to you. But then, she reluctantly lets you take it from her grip.

Your heart pounds as you hold the mirror up, trying to catch a glimpse of your face in the dimly-lit room. Your face looks back at you the same as ever- a very feminine face, if you do say so yourself. Because you were just a horse girl, when this all started. Not anymore, though. Any innocence that you'd once had has since been lost. To Pandoria, to the Soul Riders, to the various other bad things that have happened on Jorvik during your time here. And to think that you'd initially come here for a holiday. Well, now you need a holiday from your holiday.

But on the right side of your face, a vivid, glowing pink line slices through your eyebrow, passing over your eye before continuing down your cheek and even onto your neck. The scar fans out at the bottom, like roots of a tree stretching across your neck. You swallow at the sight of it, tears burning in your eyes. And your right eye is a little pinker, almost looking bloodshot with the scars radiating out from the iris. Your lip quivers, but the last thing you see before Lisa snatches the mirror away is the tiny cut, almost nothing, in your cheek.

Lisa takes you into her arms, murmuring quiet, soothing words to you. You shake, sobbing into her chest as you grip the front of her shirt. You accidentally grab her necklace and apologise, letting it go. Lisa must have thought that you were really something once, the girl who came to save the day, the girl who'd saved everything many times over. And now here you are, blubbering in her arms like a baby.

"I'm sorry," you manage to get out.

"Hey, don't apologise for crying," Lisa says. "Hell, you should see how much I cry. I went through a box of tissues just waiting for you to wake up."

"You did?" you ask, looking up at her. Lisa nods.

"Yeah," Lisa says. "I'm the overly emotional Soul Rider. Even if you haven't seen me cry much." But you had seen her cry, after she'd returned from Pandoria. Back then, it had been you comforting her. And now?

"Do you know why it scarred?" you ask. "I was only in there for a few minutes, wasn't I?" Now, you're not sure how much time had passed while you'd been in there. Had it really only been a few hours? Minutes? Had it actually been longer than that? How long had you and Alex been in there? But... Alex had looked fine. From what you can remember, anyway.

"Breathe," Lisa says, resting her hands on your back, and you suddenly realise that you'd been hyperventilating.

"H-how long?" you ask, tears beading on your lashes. "How long was I in there, is Alex okay?"

"Shh, shh," Lisa soothes you. "You were only in there for half an hour, tops. Alex is fine, physically, anyway." You suck in air, clinging tightly to Lisa. "The scar comes from that tiny scratch where part of the crystal hit you. I thought it was just blood at first but then I cleaned the blood away and the pink stayed there. Don't worry, I got the crystal out. It just barely missed your eye, though." You nod, closing your eyes, still trembling, but at least now you know what happened. That brings you some relief.

"Thank you," you say. "Do you know if it'll fade or anything?"

"No," Lisa says, shaking her head. "I don't know if it'll fade or anything. Evergray's haven't but his scars are different, they're just from being there for too long. I don't know what happens when you get hit by a crystal that used to be part of a person." And now, you're crying again, you both are, great sobs that shake your body. Because it happened. It wasn't just some awful nightmare. Elizabeth is gone, and Anne is free, and how could everything go so wrong?

"Where do we go from here?" you ask, your voice almost a whisper.

"Alex has been saying the same thing since we got back," Lisa says. "Of course, I haven't been paying anywhere near enough attention to her."

"You've been worried about your girlfriend," you say, brushing tears away with your hand. On impulse, you look at the tears, checking for any luminescence. You find none, and you're not sure whether or not you're relieved. It would definitely look cool.

"So I'll say to you what I said to her," said Lisa. "There's no undoing what's been done. What happened was an accident. And sure, maybe it wouldn't have happened if Alex hadn't decided to fight Darko, but Darko was in that middle section. He was close to the portal. Maybe he was on his way through, maybe he would've done what he did at the Secret Stone Circle and this time with no Fripp to stop him. Maybe she saved us. But we can't know for sure, unless we can get Darko to monologue."

"Not like that's hard to do," you say with a small, brittle laugh.

"But Avalon's decided that the next course of action is to rest," Lisa says. "And I'm inclined to agree with him. After what just happened, almost losing you twice, losing Elizabeth, rescuing Anne, we need some time to recover. And the druids have decided to give us that. We can go on some dates, go for some trail rides, just like we used to."

"I'd like that," you say, resting your head on Lisa's shoulder. Lisa presses a kiss to the side of your head, brushing aside some of your hair with her hand.

You stay in the infirmary, which you later learn is (was) Elizabeth's house, for a few days. Druids and Soul Riders alike mourn, as do you. But it is not as bad as it could have been, because Lisa is here with you. Having her warm embrace, her soft lips, her sweet voice, is the best medicine in the world. Of course, there are still daily healing sessions, when Lisa traces gentle fingers over your new scar. The tiny wound closes up bit by bit, until not a trace remains of it. Only a faint pink blemish, looking like normal skin. It looks odd, but Lisa kisses it anyway.

"You're still beautiful to me," Lisa says at your look of surprise. "And you always will be. Besides, it'll be nice to have a constant reminder of Elizabeth." You smile, more tears forming in your eyes.

"What did I do to deserve you?" you ask, your cheeks hurting from smiling so much.

"I think pulling me out of Pandoria is reason enough," Lisa says, giving a cheeky grin. You hiccup a laugh that's half a sob, and just like that, you're back in Lisa's arms. The place that feels like home to you.


End file.
